Investing in the Church’s Interior Health

Wineskins Contributor・01/15/20

The present condition in Churches of Christ looks bleak. Ihave a three-part thesis as to how we got here. It’s more complicated thanthis, I know, but this informs what I think is (and isn’t) needed at thiscrucial juncture.

First, Churches of Christ thrived in the can-do era ofpost-World-War-2 America because we were the can-do church. With our simple,reproducible, rules-based system, we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps likefew other religious groups. We grew like wildfire in regions of the UnitedStates that were either depressed or rapidly developing.

Second, Churches of Christ crashed when three things happenedat once. Our hard work began to produce prosperity but also “works of the flesh.”Members no longer felt the urgency to work so hard. Plus, they were weary andready to rest—perhaps on their laurels. Our society changed as well, and mostof our previous target audience was no longer receptive to a can-do message.

Third, despite some shortcomings, Churches of Christ had beenblessed with two positive traits of inner vitality—personal piety and strong Christianrelationships. Personal piety began to decline once the wealth of our membersincreased and the restrictive veil of legalism pulled away. Without personalpiety, strong relationships became more cliquish than Christian. As a result,Churches of Christ lost their key elements of interior health.

Churches of Christ are in a troubling place. We’re decliningrapidly. Some of our best and brightest young people are leaving and areunlikely to return. And most of us don’t really know who we are or what westand for in the current landscape of American Christianity.

I deeply appreciate the fact that many leaders in Churches ofChrist want to turn from decline back to growth. I respect this tenacity andhopefulness. They are correct in that we do not evangelize or disciple well.Perhaps an influx of new blood will get folks to once again think proactivelyabout matters of faith. In churches that are relatively healthy, this mayindeed be the needed cure.

I worry, however, that most of our churches have a deeperproblem.

In 1990, I moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia. Less than a year removedfrom the Velvet Revolution, Prague was spectacularly stunning on the surface.It had avoided the ruinous bombings of World War 2. The ensuing decades ofCommunism meant very few Americans had ever visited. Walking the streets revealedmarvels of medieval grandeur.

I gradually learned a harsh truth. Behind the ancient,sparkling façades were buildings in devastation. The broken economic policies ofCommunism produced too little revenue to maintain or modernize most buildings.Once Communism ended, the reality of their condition became increasingly clear.Rot and decay were just below the surface.

Beauty on the outside doesn’t mean health on the inside. The communistoverlords of Czechoslovakia placed a priority on making things look good. They hadwanted visitors and citizens alike to believe that the country was healthy andstrong. What mattered most was the illusion that everything was okay.

In the thirty years since the end of Communism, the CzechRepublic has received billions of dollars in foreign investment. Little bylittle, decrepit and decaying buildings have been renovated into modernapartments, offices, hotels and business space. Plumbing, wiring, and gas lineshad to be replaced along with adding high-speed internet connections and othercontemporary necessities. Buildings had to be retrofitted to meet currentstandards of safety and accessibility. It’s been an amazing undertaking, butthe interior of Prague’s historic center now matches the quality of the façade.Prague is no longer a city where the illusion of health is all that matters.

In Churches of Christ, I hear many stories about churchesgrasping for a quick fix. They seem to think that a veneer of health will increasenumbers which in turn will (they hope) create real health. Start a new program.Hire a young preacher. Overhaul the building. Just fix the façade, and all willbe okay.

I disagree. Strongly. We need more than an exterior makeover.Dying Churches of Christ won’t be rescued by the “Church Impossible” team.

The only way forward is for most of us to invest in theinterior health of the church. This may or may not result in short-termnumerical growth.

Investing in the church’s interior health means to take upthe cross and to grow spiritually. Any other proposal is an attempted return tothe can-do mentality of a previous generation. The can-do approach ishuman-centered: “By our might and ingenuity we will fix this thing.” It’s a wayof the flesh—a way producing death, not life.

Instead, we need a cross-shaped, Spirit-led path that relieson God’s provision and leadership and that embraces the way of Jesus. Amongmany others, one text sufficiently demonstrates my point.

Eph 2:11-22 describes how the church is built. It’s acruciform text, meaning that the cross lies at its center. Here’s the movementof Paul’s passage. He starts by saying that we are divided “in the flesh” (v.11). Jesus takes us “into his flesh” and brings us together (v. 14), putting todeath hostility and division “through the cross” (v. 16). Thanks to Jesus, weall have access to the Father “in one Spirit” (v. 18). All this happens so wecan be built together “in the Spirit” as God’s dwelling place (v. 22).

The passage moves from the flesh to the Spirit via the cross.Death and division are only defeated by moving to and through the cross. Fromthe point of cruciformity, Jesus hands us over to the Spirit who takes on thework of building the church. Later sections of Ephesians make even more sensewhen you understand the centrality of the Spirit’s work in building the peopleof God (4:1-3; 5:18bff; 6:10-18).

So let’s summarize Paul’s teaching. The result of humanstriving is division and death. The result of the cross is that we are givenover to the Spirit who builds us into God’s dwelling place.

Now let’s sum up our predicament in Churches of Christ. Longstory short, we got into our current mess by relying on ourselves. While wewere “fortunate” enough to grow in an era that welcomed such an approach, iteventually left us tired, inward-focused and devoid of the Spirit. Does anyonereally think we can rescue Churches of Christ by relying once again on our ownmight and ingenuity?

Instead, I propose these two difficult yet crucial moves.First, take up our cross and follow Jesus. We must learn what it means to livea life shaped by Kingdom ethics. This means to hold the things of this worldloosely and to increasingly depend on God to provide. When Jesus said that it’sdifficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, he was talking aboutus.

The second move is to live into the Spirit. We must learnwhat it means that the Spirit of God equips the people of God for the missionof God. We can’t fill ourselves with the Spirit, but we must seek God’s fillinginstead of fleshly remedies. And we must trust the Spirit to use us to buildthe church of God.

Without such emphases, I fear that any effort to renew ourchurches will look like the misguided efforts to beautify façades without investingin livable buildings. Do we have the vision to see what is most needed? And dowe have the courage to avoid the quick fixes and instead invest in the church’sinterior health?